List of royal consorts of Wessex explained

The royal consorts of Wessex were the wives of the reigning monarchs of the Kingdom of Wessex. History has not always recorded whether each king of Wessex was married or not. In Wessex it was not customary for kings' wives to be queens but Judith was crowned queen following her marriage to Æthelwulf.[1] [2]

Wessex was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from AD 519 until England was unified by Æthelstan (who never married) in AD 927. There have thus been no consorts of an independent Wessex since that date and the following consorts have been those of the monarch of England.

PictureNameParentsBirthMarriageBecame ConsortCeased to be ConsortDeathSpouse
Seaxburh (possibly) - no earlier than c. 642 645c. 674Cenwalh
Cynewise (possibly) - no earlier than 645no later than 648 - Penda
Seaxburh - no earlier than 648672
Thereafter ruled in her own right
c. 674Cenwalh
Not reliably recorded. Possibly a sister of Queen Iurminburh. - no earlier than c. 676no later than c. 686 - Centwine
Cynethryth - no earlier than 685no later than 688 - Cædwalla
Æthelburg - c. 688726 - Ine
Frithugyth - no earlier than 726no later than 740 - Æthelheard
EadburhFather, King Offa of Mercia
Mother, Queen Cynethryth
before 788 - no earlier than 786802 - Beorhtric
Unknown
Late recording as Redburga but name is of doubtful historicity
 -  -  - no earlier than 802no later than 839 - Egbert
OsburhFather, Oslac - before 839839no later than 856  - Æthelwulf
JudithFather, Charles the Bald
Mother, Ermentrude of Orléans
align=center rowspan=2October 8441 October 85613 January 858
Husband's death
after 870
858860
Æthelbald
Wulfthryth - Period 865 to 868not after 871 - Ethelred I
EalhswithFather, Æthelred Mucil.
Mother, Eadburh
86823 April 87126 October 8995 December 905Alfred the Great
ÆlfflædFather, Æthelhelm - circa 901late 910safter 910Edward the Elder
EadgifuFather, Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kentbefore 904circa 91917 July 924after 965

See also

References

  1. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8921/39264?docPos=1 Janet L. Nelson, Æthelwulf, Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004
  2. Williams et al., A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain

Bibliography